How To: Identifying and locating the correct drive for your laptop



Document ID: 4009160

 

Posted Date: 2016-06-21

 

Distribution: View Public Website

 

Resolution

How To: Identifying and locating the correct driver for your laptop

You may need to download a driver for your device from support.toshiba.com for one of the following reasons:

  • You installed new hardware.
  • You want to update a driver for existing hardware.
  • You are having trouble with existing hardware and need to reinstall the driver.

 

Locating the Correct Driver on support.toshiba.com

NOTE: For the following example we will be locating the driver for the webcam for a TOSHIBA Satellite C855-S5107 with Windows 7 Operating System.

Navigating to Drivers and Updates to find drivers

  1. Open //support.toshiba.com/drivers.
  2. In the search box enter the model or serial number of the machine that you need a driver for.
  3. From the drop down list select your operating system
  4. Next select the hardware you are looking for drivers for. In this example we are looking for an updated BIOS, so we will select "BIOS"
  5. From the available drivers, select the driver with the highest version number. In this example we will select V5.90

 

Opening Device Manager to find device hardware names

To find the correct driver for the hardware installed in you computer sometimes it will be neccessary to discover what the hardware manufacturer name is. The illustration below shows an example of how we can use device manager to discover that the audio card manufacturer is Conexant.

To learn how to open device manager locate your OS below for the steps to open device manager

Windows 7 / Vista:

  1. Open the Start Menu.
  2. Type "Device Manager" in the Start Menu's search field.
  3. Select "Device Manager" from the search results.
  4. Device Manager window will open and look similar to below.

Windows 8 and above:

  1. Hold the Windows key.
  2. While continuing to hold the Windows key, press the 'x' key to open a menu in the lower-left.
  3. Select "Device Manager."
  4. Device Manager window will open and look similar to below.

 

If you are having a problem with a specific piece of hardware:

  • Pick the filter corresponding to that device on the Drivers & Updates page. (For example, if the problem is with graphics, select "Display.")

Display drivers:

  • Check the detailed specifications on your product's support page to see if you have Intel, nVidia, or AMD graphics.
  • Select the Display filter and your OS filter on the Drivers & Updates page.
  • Pick the top-most graphics driver that mentions your display brand (Intel, nVidia, AMD).
  • Note that “Wireless display driver” is not the standard display driver.

Ethernet / LAN Drivers:

  1. Open Device Manager
  2. Expand “Network adapters
  3. Look for a network adapter that does not mention “VPN,” “Debug,” or “Wireless.” It may include the word “Ethernet.” Note the brand. Most likely it’s Intel, Broadcom, Atheros, or Realtek. (If you are unable to determine which entry of multiple is applicable but they’re both the same brand, you don’t actually need to determine which entry is applicable.)
  4. Use “LAN” filter and OS filter on the Drivers & Updates page.
  5. Download the top-most driver that mentions the brand you found earlier.

Wireless Drivers:

  • Follow the directions for Ethernet / LAN above but dismiss adapters that mention “VPN,” “Debug” and “Ethernet.” It may say “Wireless.” Use the "Wi-Fi filter instead of "LAN."

Bluetooth Drivers:

  • Find wireless card brand as described above in the Wireless Drivers section
  • Use the network or other filter and OS filter on the Drivers & Updates page.
  • Download “Bluetooth Stack” and the Bluetooth driver corresponding to that brand.

Camera Drivers:

  • For most cases, use “Toshiba Web Camera Application."

If “Unknown device” is listed under “Other devices” Drivers:

  • If everything’s working correctly, you most likely shouldn’t worry about it. Installing random drivers could cause problems.

 

 

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